or camps in the valley below. Late in the evening I arrived at the Matterhorn Hotel, a hostelry upon which there frown the Matterhorn, the Little Matterhorn, and the Lyskamm. The view of the Matterhorn from the Italian side is not so imposing as that from Zermatt, yet its abrupt precipices give it an almost terrifying aspect. While looking at the mountain from the balcony of the hotel in the late evening I saw a cloud mass accumulate round the summit, and then after a while detach itself and roll down the cliffs. It approached rapidly, enveloped the hotel in its folds, and then passed down the valley. Its definite contour and white flexible, billowy mass gave it the appearance of a gigantic feather-bed. Meantime flashes of lightning played about the summit of the mountain. About three in the morning, after an ice-cold bath and breakfast, I started with my guide, whom I had engaged at Chatillon. We reached the cabane at the top of the pass between seven and eight, and met shortly afterwards a party which had just come down from the Breithorn. They said that it was very stormy, and advised us to wait until the next day. However, neither my guide nor I was inclined to postpone our excursion, and, well roped together, we started and easily made the summit of the mountain about eleven o'clock. The view from the Breithorn is superb. It is very similar to that from Monte Rosa, and it is preferable to that from the Matterhorn, because it includes the Matterhorn itself. Towards Macunaga a thick white fog lay among the hills and obscured the landscape in that direction, but in every other, bright sunlight lit up the peaks-the Jungfrau and the Matterhorn most conspicuously, then the Grand Paradis, the highest mountain in Italy-while fold on fold the mountains towards the Mont Blanc range formed the western horizon.1 Far beneath lay the Gorner Grat, the Riffel Berg and Zermatt, the broad expanse of the Breithorn, the Théodule and the Gorner Glaciers stretching between. As we went up and down the arête, the steep ice slope which must be negotiated to reach the summit, I noticed an interesting meteorological phenomenon. This was the sharp stratification of the air currents. At the foot of the arête the wind blew with some violence, although not sufficient to impede our progress. Towards the middle of the slope the wind ceased abruptly, and on the top of the mountain there was not a breath of air. When we descended, we encountered the air current at precisely the same place from which we had passed out of it. Towards the foot of the arête we left the ice 1 A member of the Alpine Club has related that he saw the Pyrenees from the top of the Breithorn. I am not in a position to dispute the statement. steps we had cut during our ascent and glissaded to the snow field, carefully avoiding a crevasse we had noticed on our way up. The ascent of the Breithorn is one of the easiest in the Alps, and it is one which more than amply repays the climber.1 The immense amphitheatre of glacier beneath the summit of the mountain gives space in the foreground and produces a panoramic effect in which the proportions of the mountains can be seen to advantage. When we returned to the cabane we found a French party newly arrived from Zermatt. In this party was the President of the Alpine Club of Lyons and his wife. While resting before our descent of the glaciers I played a couple of games of chess with the lady. From the cabane we dropped during the afternoon to Zermatt. The view from Zermatt of the amphitheatre of mountains is wholly without parallel in Switzerland. Chamounix is surrounded by high peaks, but there is no intermediate foreground by which the spectator can thrust them back so that they can be seen. Before Zermatt there is the vast glacier system of the Gorner and Théodule Glaciers by which Monte Rosa, the Breithorn, the Lyskamm, the Little Matterhorn and the Great Matterhorn are extended in a mighty panorama. Each of these mountains has a characteristic form-Monte Rosa, round snow-capped summit; the Breithorn, a snow cornice which seems to overhang precariously; the Lyskamm and the Little Matterhorn, needle-like peaks; and the Great Matterhorn, the form of a rearing horse according to Ruskin, or a sphinx according to some. I found that the indications of heavy weather on the Matterhorn which I had noticed from the Italian side were those of a storm which had raged upon the mountain for several days. The people in Zermatt were in a state of anxiety on account of Mr. Campbell, the blind Alpinist, who had begun the ascent of the mountain four days before, and who, with his guides, was practically marooned in a cabane near the summit. He had sent back some of his guides for food, and these had relieved anxiety about the fate of the party. Mr. Campbell had great courage and perseverance, and his Alpine exploits were conducted by him in order to show what blind men could do; but it is a question whether the good he did by this particular kind of adventure was not offset by the unnecessary risk he imposed upon his guides. I believe, however, that no mishap of consequence attended his expeditions. Next day I learned of an accident on Monte Rosa, in which a traveller, a guide and a porter had lost their lives. I had 1 The height of the Breithorn, according to the Swiss Trigonometrical Surveys, is 13,685 feet. intended to climb that mountain, but the weather conditions were not inviting. From Zermatt I walked up the Visp Thal and the Nicolai Thal to Brieg. I believe that a railway has since been constructed through these charming valleys. At Brieg I took the diligence over the Furca, past the pinnacles of the Rhone Glacier from which the River Rhone takes its primary waters, and on to the junction with the Gothard road from Italy. At that moment the Gothard Tunnel was being constructed, but no part of the line had been opened. The journey by Hospenthal, Andermatt and Goschenen past the Devil's Bridge and on to Fluelen and Altdorf occupied about thirty-six hours. My only travelling companions were a young French gentleman, very cultivated and intelligent, a kinsman of General Moreau, celebrated in the Napoleonic wars, and an American family of no interest. From Fluelen I went by steamer to Lucerne, climbed the Rigi, saw Pilatus, and then journeyed by Berne to Paris. CHAPTER XI INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE IN SCOTLAND IN THE EIGHTIES Trim, naked Speed! Of the Masters of Darkness. For the antient, invincible Stern-set, adventurous, Dreaming things, doing things; Strong with a strength Won from tremendous And desperate vicissitudes, Out of unnumbered, Unstoried experiences. W. E. HENLEY, A Song of Speed (1903). THE salient features of economical development in the west of Scotland during the decades 1861-70 and 1871-80 as they envisaged themselves to me have been briefly recounted in former chapters. The opening years of the new decade had a heavy inheritance from its predecessor. The financial catastrophe of 1878 had staggered the people of Glasgow. The situation was on the whole well managed by solvent banks, which lent money on deposits with banks in liquidation and took risk of recovering advances. Benevolence did something to mitigate individual hardship and generosity provided collective funds. Helen Faucit emerged from retirement and Henry Irving came with her to read to a great audience for the benefit of ruined shareholders. For the moment enterprise was arrested; not for three or four years did commercial and industrial life resume even average activity. To the causes of economic dislocation indicated in a former chapter there should be added others of longer standing and of more gradual influence. These were (a) decline of cereal cultivation in Great Britain owing to diminished profit resulting from competition of farmers of the United States and the Argentine Republic with British farmers; (b) relatively diminished production in Great Britain of cattle and sheep owing to greater ease and cheapness of production on a large scale on the plains of North and South America and in Australia and New Zealand; (c) decline of agricultural rents arising from these movements and diminished employment in agriculture; and (a) general fall of prices from numerous primary and secondary causes, producing dislocation in the mechanism of industry and commerce. In spite of miscellaneity of industries, Glasgow was heavily smitten; but this very characteristic of miscellaneity it was which enabled the district to recover with comparative rapidity from general depression and from blows which had been especially injurious to its credit. Yet this recovery was not wholly effected until after the close of the decade 1881-90. The fall in prices which from various causes had taken place during the trade malaise stimulated demand; and thus, though wages were low and profits reduced to a minimum in many of the staple industries, movement of goods increased. A consequence of this increased movement of goods was rise in ocean freights. This led to demand for ships, shipbuilding became very active in 1882. The additional demand proved to be readily satisfied and the briskness was only temporary. Stocks of iron were large, prices continued to be depressed and many furnaces were put "out of blast "; 1883-86 were years of great depression. The coal-miners had attempted to improve their position by strikes, but stocks of coal were ample enough to meet restricted demand without fresh production, and coal-masters were able to defeat the strikers with comparative ease. Under these conditions, it became apparent to miners' leaders that no strike could succeed so long as heavy reserves of coal were available. They therefore proposed to work for a time at the customary wage, but to diminish output by working half time. Adoption of this plan meant that customary earnings of miners were cut to the extent of one-half, and that stocks of coal at the pit mouth and elsewhere were gradually depleted until reserves which enabled coal-masters to resist demand for increased wages were exhausted. This plan, known as "restricted darg," involved great hardships to miners. I made some inquiries at the time into the situation in mining villages. "Restricted darg" resulted in practical elimination of meat from the miner's diet, in practical elimination of clothes from his budget and in piling up of debt. Many shopkeepers in mining districts assisted materially in "carrying" miners over the crisis so far as food was concerned, and clothing was to some extent provided by charitable agencies. The main burden, however, fell upon miners' families. They voluntarily reduced their consumption for a time in order to place themselves on another level afterwards. The short "darg" endured, so far as I remember, for eighteen months. These were eighteen months of great hardship. On the whole, it may be said that the policy was |